ALSO OF NOTE IN THE USSR

September 24, 1981

* The Soviet union has issued it s first public acknowledgement of having military advisers in Angola. But, apparently seeking to limit fallout from the admission in Soviet relations with some African states, the statement revived charges that the United States had placed itself firmly behind the "criminal" policies of South Africa on the continent.

The Moscow statement also pledged continued "political, diplomatic, and materiel support" for the Angolans but gave no indication whether this would include military advisers.

* A Soviet official has issued a brief denial of Western reports that the infant mortality rate here has been sharply on the rise.

But Western diplomats here say the statement was unconvincing, especially since another Moscow official admitted in June that the figures remained far higher than a decade ago.

That acknowledgement was tempered by the claim that infant mortality figures, seen as an important measure of social development, were going up here only because statistical reporting was getting better.

She gave no data, however. Nor did she explain the sharp increase reflected in official figures published here form 1971 to 1974. The Soviets stopped publishing infant mortality information in official statistical reports after 1974.